New Beginnings
by m49p13
Summary: In the days following the explosion of the Gnosis, Zee finally gets his freedom in an unexpected way.
1. Chapter 1

I wrote this story as an attempt to help myself and fans of the cartoon gain some closure after Warner Brothers axed it after its second season.  
I promise to try to stay as true to the series as possible, using the DC Animated Universe Wikia as a guide and write the characters as themselves as much as as I can.

My story is set after the last episode of Season 2. I can't say for sure that Zee and Ro will end up together, even if I am leaning towards that direction, because I want to let their interaction evolve as organically as possible, so we will see what happens!

Enjoy guys, and don't stop writing fanfiction!

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

_~ present day ~_

Ro enters the apartment using her butt to push the door open, her hands full of grocery bags. "Zee, a little help please!", she calls out.

Zee appears from the living room and quickly takes the bags from her hands.

He shifts them to the kitchen counter as Ro kicks off her sneakers by the door before joining him in the kitchen.

As they start putting the food away, Ro reflects on how '_normal_' this all was.

She still couldn't quite get over it.

A mere few months ago they had been fugitives on the run from the NSA and now...

**_*Ro's flashback*_**

They had found Selig.

They'd been floating around from city to city, searching for the scientists who had worked on creating Zeta, who would and could help emancipate Zee when they had gotten word that Selig and his assistant had survived the Gnosis explosion and had been relocated to a makeshift lab in Gotham so he could continue his work.

That nugget of information had not been easy to come across; in fact it was Batman who had tipped them off.

He knew everything that went on in the city under his watch and knew that Zee would appreciate the info.

They had been running through downtown Central City the day he had contacted them, trying to evade bolts of electromagnetic pulse being shot at them by NSA agents.

Zee was running a fair way in front of her to scope what was ahead when Ro heard a loud static noise coming from her backpack.

"ZEE! DID YOU - HUFF HUFF - PUT A THINGAMAJIG IN MY BACKPACK?!"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, -HUFF- DID YOU PUT SOMETHING IN MY BACKPACK?!"

"**WHAT?!**"

"DID YOU - OH FOR THE LOVE OF - FOLLOW ME!"

As they turned a corner Ro jerked her head towards a Macy's departmental store to indicate that they should hide in there - the number of civilians that were shopping in there would cause NSA ground agents to ceasefire, at least in the complex.

WHOOP DEE DOO! Luck was in their favor today, Macy's was having a sale.

Even West wouldn't be dumb enough to fire any weapons in a crowd this dense.

They quickly blended in with all the other shoppers, keeping an eye on all possible exits and NSA agents.

Ro headed towards the men's clothing area, yanking on Zee's arm and dragged them both into a free changing stall. Even in a sale, Ro knew that the men's department wouldn't be as crowded as the rest of the place.

Their scrapes with the NSA had become more frequent, although they noticed that Agent Bennet had been suspiciously absent from their more recent encounters.

Ro grabbed her backpack as Zee tried to plan an escape route while simultaneously keeping an eye out for NSA agents with his extendable optic camera from under the door of the stall.

She knew they couldn't escape while whatever it was in her backpack was emitting such a racket, it would give them away in heatbeat.

In an instant Ro locates the offending item and pulls it out. It was the device that Batman had given her to contact him when they lost Zee the last time they were in Gotham.

Zee had explained awhile ago that it was a portable ham radio and it was very old technology, practically obsolete. Nobody used it anymore.  
Then he had gone on about how it used frequencies to work aaaaannnd she had stopped listening about there.

She hadn't returned it because she thought they might need his help again one day. Meh, it wasn't like he had asked for it back.

"Ze...e..kch...kch...over... Ro...an...you...hear...e?"

Ro instinctively pressed the big black button before speaking into it.

"Batman? Hello?"

"Uurn..kcch ...ls."

"What? Could you repeat that? I can't hear you properly."

"KCH...Di..al...dial.. ..tur.n...em."

There were only two dials, one for volume and the other one Ro guessed was for..uh..clarity?

She twiddled with it before Batman's voice became more coherent then turned the volume down so they wouldn't attract any attention to themselves.

"Zeta, Ro can you hear me now?"

"Yes, we can hear you but uh, this isn't the best time Batman."

Ro was whispering and knew that Zee's super enhanced hearing abilities could pick up the conversation so she didn't bother moving closer to him.

"NSA?"

"Yup. They need to be paid to do SOMETHING", Ro responded dryly.

Behind his command center, Batman gave a smirk. Girl had moxie, had to give her that.

"Where are you and Zeta now?"

"In a changing room of a Macy's, downtown Central City, why?"

"I want you to meet me at Grant Park near the Alan Grant monument tomorrow at midnight. Think you both can get to Gotham by then?"

She looked over at Zee to see what his response was. He nodded his head.

"We should have sufficient time."

"Copy that. See you then."

The radio went dead. Ro had returned it to her backpack, slung it over her shoulders and crouched close to her companion. Zee had almost finished planning an escape when his camera picks up an image of West, sweeping the area with a hologram scanner.

Sure enough, not long after that they heard West yell, "OVER HERE IN THE CHANGING STALL!"

That had been their cue.

Zee forced the door to the changing room outwards, which knocked over racks of clothing that had sent West wheeling backwards, clearing their path from the stalls to the cash registers which were backlogged with shoppers.

Ro followed close to his heels as they ran towards the cashiers, with Zee letting Ro get ahead of him so he could scoop her up bridal style. Then he vaulted them over the cashiers, crowd and all and landed on the other side, just clearing the bagging area.

"Please excuse us", Zee had said apologetically to the crowd of shocked people who were waiting in line.

Zee then holomorphed himself and Ro into a middle aged man carrying a golf bag before running off towards the food court.

When they got there, they had spotted one NSA agent but she was just leaving the area.

Zee set Ro back down on her feet and morphed them into janitors and they headed to the service entrance.

Once outside, Ro had scouted for any signs of agents. There were none but there was an ice delivery van that was finished unloading and was ready to leave the premises.

Zee unlocked the back doors and ushered Ro in. They got in just as the van was backing out of the alley.

There were large blocks of ice everywhere. It was cold in the van and it made Ro shiver but they wouldn't be in there for long. As soon as the truck slowed to a halt, they would jump back out.

"We need to get to a Ground Wire to check transport itineraries to Gotham City," Zee said to Ro.

Ro really wonders about his creators sometimes. This was 2044, why hadn't they just built him with wi-fi capabilities?

"How bout we do that at the next city? The NSA would probably still be on the lookout for us here."

Zee had agreed with her assesment. Before reaching their next stop, Zee huddled close to her so he could warm her with his internal heating units.

Ro had smiled at him appreciatively and wondered why Batman wanted to meet.

Midnight, huh. Why you gotta be so dramatic all the time Batman?

**_*End of flashback*_**

Zee noticed that Ro had spaced out and tapped her on the nose with his finger.

Ro jerked backwards in surprise.

"Were you calculating your calorie intake for today?", Zee teased.

Ro looked down to see that she was holding a chocolate bar in her hands before ripping the wrapper off and breaking the bar into smaller pieces.

"Want some?" she offered Zee, and held out a piece for him with two fingers.

- end of chapter one -


	2. Chapter 2

_**Epilogue from Chapter 1**_

_Zee noticed that Ro had spaced out and tapped her on the nose with his finger._

_Ro jerked backwards in surprise._

_"Were you calculating your calorie intake for today?" Zee teased._

_Ro looked down to see that she was holding a chocolate bar in her hands before ripping the wrapper off and breaking the bar into smaller pieces._

_"Want some?" she offered Zee, and held out a piece for him with two fingers._

**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

Zee, who was holding a packet of pasta in his left hand and a can of baked beans in the other, leaned over and took the chocolate piece from her fingers with his mouth.

Ro tried not to jump at the sensation of his lips brushing against her fingers.

"I think I'm getting better at multi-tasking with my motor muscles!" he exclaimed with a mouthful of chocolate, looking very pleased with himself.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth," Ro gruffly said back.

Luckily Zee ignored her demeanor and continued cheerfully putting the stuff away.

After Zee became a humanoid, living in close quarters with him had become a very different experience as opposed to when he was a synthoid.

It wasn't that Ro minded immensely it was just that lately, every sort of physical contact with Zee made her nervous.

Specifically, butterflies in her stomach _nervous_.

She pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and put the rest of the chocolate away in the cooling unit and went to her room to take a shower.

Zee meanwhile was marveling at the chocolate on his taste buds and for the umpteenth time that day was grateful that he could experience taste.

The range of emotions and senses he had experienced as a synthoid was only 1/30th of what he could feel now.

Joy, affection, anger, annoyance, sadness, humour, touch, smell, nostalgia, wonderment and so much more that he could not quantify or adequately express.

It was like he was a child that had been left unsupervised in a candy store; he wanted to taste and feel everything!

So far the bodily senses he appreciated the most was taste and smell. When he was a synthoid, his olfactory senses were limited to identifying chemical substances only and they did not affect him as they do biological beings. But now he had a tongue and a proper nose that allowed chemicals to have an effect on both his physique and his new found emotions.

Cooking had become his new favorite hobby and for the last two months he had been preparing almost every meal for the two of them, sometimes three when Casey visited. Ro took a turn sometimes and turned out to be an adequate cook, but she preferred making recipes that took under a half hour to prepare so her repertoire was mostly variations of finger foods, pasta dishes and salads.

Food was exciting to him; there were endless possible combinations that could result in a myriad of flavors and aromas that he was just beginning to discover. He experimented a lot with different ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques which sometimes ended in inedible disasters (like steamed vinegar and vodka cupcakes), so he kept a food journal to help document his culinary adventures.

He hoped that Ro would like what he was planning on making for dinner tonight, Bucky had given him a recipe for chicken asparagus milk shake and wasabi stuffed sardines which he was eager to try it out.

_**- 3 months ago -**_

The ice truck stopped for another delivery not long after their escape from Macy's. From there they got out and hopped on a bus to one of the smaller towns between Central City and Gotham and arrived late in the evening. Ro had been craving a hot bath and a soft bed but since it was a small town, the only place available was a dingy motel with mothy smelling beds and ice cold showers.

Life of a wanted person on the run was NOT glamorous, no matter how romanticized movies made it look.

The next morning over breakfast at an equally cheerless diner, they formulated a new plan to get to Gotham.

They had seen a camper craft advertised for sale outside the diner and were wondering if they should drive to Gotham instead of relying on public transport.

Not long after Bucky had gone to live with his uncle in the Underground, he had sent them a batch of fake IDs as a token for helping him escape the feds along with an audio recording. He had tipped them off on the Net, leaving encrypted coordinates and clues that led to an electronic storage locker at the Hub. Bucky had altered his voice on the recording and used a code name, but Zee knew it was him by matching Bucky's diction from memory. It was basically an audio letter saying that he was alright and that he'd met a lot of shady but useful characters in the underground and was enjoying his new street cred as a wanted criminal. Ro was glad that he was safe (he may be a bratty twip but at least he was in their corner) though heaven forbid that she would ever tell him so.

They had used the fake IDs to create bank accounts for each of them (in case they got separated) and had used Zee's unlimited cred card to purchase bulk amounts of cash cards which they deposited into their bank accounts. It was slightly inconvenient but cash cards were untraceable and thanks to that, they didn't need to rely on Zee's cred card as often.

They followed the address on the ad and ended up in front of a suburban style cabin that belonged to an elderly couple, a fifteen minute walk from the diner.

It was a fairly modest sized vehicle with just enough space for two, but it was clean, in good condition and had a toilet. They were especially pleased to find it that came equipped with mobile internet, which cemented their decision to purchase it. The old couple was very fond of it and were sorry to see it go, but had explained that they were getting too old to travel and needed to sell it to pay for their ever increasing medical bills.

Zee inspected the vehicle while Ro worked out a deal with them where she would give them double the asking price if they took care of the paperwork. The old couple didn't think to question their good luck and when Zee gave the green light, Ro transferred the creds using her bank card.

Owning a camper craft turned out to be one of the best ideas they ever had.

Without the need to stop for rest rooms, hotels, food or Groundwires as often, they could spend less time in cities and public places which meant being less visible and lesser chances of getting caught.

After stocking it up with amenities for Ro from a convenience store and getting a power tablet* from the only electrical shop in town, they were off, with Ro driving and Zee perusing the Net for any news on Project Zeta scientists.

A five hour drive later, they had reached Gotham. They parked the camper craft in the parking lot adjacent to the park and waited for midnight. Ro was exhausted after the drive so she napped on the camper craft's short queen bed while Zee sat at the edge of it continuing his research. He managed to find a few leads that day, and after their meeting with Batman he decided they would continue on to Spring City where Dr. Barbara Anagnostakos was scheduled to give a lecture on the future of artificial intelligence in applied linguistics.

Judging by the topic of the lecture, Zee conjectured that she might have been responsible for designing the software and language database which allows him to imitate human diction and conversational logic. This feature had allowed him and other synthoids of his caliber to successfully assimilate human interaction during infiltration missions. It did not seem like she would be of much help, but with Selig gone, he did not have much else to go on.

Zee woke Ro up a half hour before midnight and they both headed to the memorial, towards their fated encounter with the caped crusader.

Due to the high crime rates in Gotham the park was empty of law abiding civilians at the hour, so it gave them plenty of privacy.  
Batman had showed up impeccably on time (must have been a slow night in Gotham) emerging from the darkest shadows cast by the surrounding trees which seemed more ominous at night. His ebony suit stood out in direct contrast of the lights streaming from street lamps scattered around the park.

Zee was the first to break the silence.

"Hello Batman, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise Zeta, Ro. How goes it?"

Ro piped up.

"Right now? Peachy. But I'm guessing you didn't tell us to come to Gotham just cause you wanted to catch up."

Batman was unfazed by her attitude. In fact, he respected her shrewdness. He knew that life on the streets didn't leave her much room to be naive.

"Alright, let's get to the point. Zeta, Dr. Selig is alive. He's been relocated to a laboratory in Gotham to continue his work."

Zee and Ro were stunned. She looked over at Zee who was still trying process the news.

"For real? Batman, we saw his pod go under!"

She knew how hard Zee had took Selig's death; he had been devastated. She didn't want to see him be disappointed like that again.

Batman squinted at Ro.

"Yes Ro, I have no reason to make this up."

"Wait, if he's really alive and he's really here, then - ."

"I can still be free," Zeta finished.

Batman took out a power tablet of his own and showed Zee a holographic blueprint of the facility where Dr Selig and his assistant had been assigned to.

"This is a blueprint of the lab. It's a highly classified government facility so I suspect it will be heavily guarded. I can only provide you this much information, you will have to do the rest on your own."

Zee extended his data jack to the device and downloaded the blueprint and committed the data to memory.

Ro leaped forward and gave Batman a hug.

"Thanks again for your help Batman. You really are a hero," she had said before letting him go.

"Yes, thank you Batman. I do not feel as though I can do enough to ever repay you," Zee expressed before giving Batman a hug too.

Batman cleared his throat as Zee released him.

"There may be a time when I will need you to return the favour, be warned. Well good luck the two of you. Let me know how it pans out," and with that he disappeared back into the shadow of the night.

Ro turned to Zee and she could see the renewed hope in his eyes. She clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a huge grin.

"Come on tin man. Looks like there's somewhere we need to be."

- end of chapter two -

* * *

* I am assuming laptops will be obsolete in 2044 and will be replaced by tablets more powerful than our current day PCs, hence the term power tablet


	3. Chapter 3

_**Epilogue from Chapter 2**_

_Ro turned to Zee and she could see the renewed hope in his eyes. She clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a huge grin._

_"Come on tin man. Looks like there's somewhere we need to be."_

**CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

The drive from Grant Park to their new destination didn't take them long. The coordinates from the blueprints led them to the outskirts of Montrose district; part of New Gotham.

They found an alleyway a few blocks from their intended location where they could run reconnaissance undetected. According to the blueprints Batman gave, their target was underneath a large logistics warehouse registered under CATCORP.

Zee had said something about it's location being "very clever". Ro knew he was right. An industrial area would be void of nosy pedestrians and with the amount of traffic coming in and out of the place, parts and operable synthoids could be easily shipped in and out without anyone being the wiser. It was a good cover.

It took them two days to observe the movement going in an out of the facility before Zee was confident enough of their success rate of infiltration. In those two days, Ro grew really fond of the camper craft. It was cozy, mobile and she could definitely see the appeal of a home on wheels. She made herself comfortable in the camper craft, in between making food for herself and learning surveillance techniques from Zee.

Finally, it was go time.

As Ro prepared herself mentally for the task ahead, she observed her synthoid friend. She knew that Batman had restored hope in him but she was worried. Disappointment was a constant in their lives and hope was a double edged sword, even more so for her best friend because he had more to lose.

"Don't get your hopes up too much Zee. We didn't even see him or his assistant enter the compound. Even if we see him we might not be able to get to talk to him if our previous experiences are anything to go by."

She put her fingers on his and squeezed them in hopes that the gesture would cushion possible disappointment even if she knew he couldn't feel the emotion behind them. Zee felt the pressure and recognized her intent.

"I know Ro, but he's alive and I have to see it for myself. Even if we come away today without speaking to him, just to see him in person and know that he is safe gives me certainty that our freedom is still possible."

He smiled at her and squeezed her fingers back before letting go. Her spirits were lifted by his optimism.

"Okay. If this is really it Zee, have ever thought what you might do once you're free?"

"I thought we would find your parents. We agreed."

Her mood dampen again. "What if they can't or don't want to be found? I mean they left Casey and me for a reason."

Zee put his arm around her in comfort.

"Maybe we can at least find out what that reason is, if you want to."

He noticed the furow on her brow and the angst in her eyes and poked her in the her side in an attempt to snap her out of her foreboding thoughts.

"What about you? Have you thought about what else you might want to do when you have your freedom?"

She was glad for the change of topic.

"I was thinking of finishing school. It would be nice to do something normal for once."

"Well, you should look forward to that then," he said twinkly before planting a kiss on her forehead.

Despite herself Ro giggled slightly, her mood lifted once more. It felt like someone had tapped her forehead lightly with the flat side of a metal ruler. Up till now she still wasn't sure how he'd managed to make that kiss he gave Tiffany as Adam Heat so convincing. Maybe it just had been a very successful illusion.

They went through the plan again for the last time and waited for the time to execute.

Security had been double than what had been on the Gnosis; the government was keen not to have a repeat of the Gnosis incident. Guards were disguised as shipping workers but their poise and demeanor screamed government agent. Getting inside the compound was no problem. The real challenge was to get through the restricted area where the entrance to Selig's operations was.

They assumed the identity of two exterminators they had seen entering the compound yesterday it appeared that CATCORP had a rat infestation. They had come and gone on foot, so Zee assumed that the pest control company was within the vicinity. Ro used the holographic bracelet that Dr Edmund had given her the day they thought Selig had died. They pretended that they had come back to check on the traps 'they' had left behind and were let through the checkpoint without any trouble.

Zee had hacked CATCORP's computer database and gotten the info that there was a large shipment of argon that was scheduled to be moved into the restricted area today at this time. Zee knew that argon was a key component in the creation of synthoids (Ro didn't bother asking for more details) so he knew that the shipment of that size was meant for Selig. Once inside the main building, they had quickly located the shipment and morphed into argon tanks and got delivered in with the rest of the shipment.

They were in. They discretely skulked away from the tanks of argon and quickly morphed into agents Rush and West and sought out a scientist to ask where Selig's office was under the pretext of having official NSA business with him. The young Asian man was all too happy to point them in the right direction. It was a positive sign, Selig was there.

Selig's office was on a steel platform high above the production floor which was connected to a series of isolated offices via a series of metal stairs and bridges. This must have been intentional to give Selig a bird's eye view of the entire operation. When they got there, there was no sign of Selig or his assistant. They tried to spot them from their vantage point and saw Selig walking absentmindedly towards them with his assistant tailing not far behind him. This time Zee wasn't taking any chances. The instant Dr Selig entered his office Zee walked directly up to him, lost his holomorph and told Selig who he was.

Selig had been ecstatic! Well... not at first.

Before Zee could finish, Selig screamed for his assistant who had burst into the room a split second later firing a laser gun at intruders. Zee jumped in front of Ro to shield her from the blasts, but not before a shot grazed her thigh. Ro bit back a cry of pain, she knew Zee had more important things to worry about right now. Donoso advanced on Zeta (it seemed like insanity to Ro, a woman of her size and build could not possibly take on a synthoid hardwired to assassinate on command. The goverment couldn't possibly be paying her THAT much!)

She lifted a metal stool from her left and started to swing it at Zee's head. Her first attempt connected with a loud "CLANG" and Zee's head damn well near detached itself from it's core cables. Ro had no doubt that if Zee was human in that instant, he would have had one hell of a concussion.

Zee backed up, assessing his situation. He did not want to hurt Donoso yet he did not understand how Donoso could possibly be this strong. He looked over at Selig, contemplating his next move. He did not want to use force on either of them but Donoso's fortitude was proving to be an obstacle. He dove in at her waist trying to pin her arms to her side in hopes that would be enough but Donoso was too quick for him and had planted a kick square in his chest, trying to drive him into the wall behind him. Zee caught her foot with his hand and tried to throw her off balance by anchoring her foot to his chest but Donoso was already mid air with a roundhouse kick aimed at his head which Zee only blocked in time with his free hand.

It was clear that she was trying the most effective method to get Zee offline, which was by disconnecting his 'brain' to his body.

Zee went on the defensive only blocking her attacks while standing his ground, mostly because he did not want to harm anyone and also to protect Ro who was still behind him. Out of the corner of her eye Ro noticed that Selig was edging towards the door. She ducked out from behind Zee and barred the door with her physique.

Hey, she may not be a synthoid but she was pretty sure she could hold down an old man if she needed to.

Seeing the look of fear on Selig's face, Ro tried to pacify him.

"Tell her to stop! Look, we mean you no harm! Zee's innocent! We can prove it!"

The fear in Selig's face gave way to confusion instead. He simply stared at her in apprehension.

"Please, Zee's been searching for you for a long time. All he wants to do is talk."

He could see it in her eyes, she was in earnest. He turned around to regard the scene behind him. Donoso had somehow managed to bend a metal leg from the stool around Zee's torso, incapacitating him. Zee had not resisted and instead had pretended to shut down. He strategized that if they believed he was not a threat, he would eventually get a chance to talk to Selig.

"Oooh, wouldn't wanna get on her bad side," Ro cringed.

With Zeta taken care of, Donoso turned around and locked eyes on Ro. Ro let out a yelp and threw her hands in front of herself for protection. Donoso started towards Ro, but before Zee could do anything, Selig stood in front of Donoso and told her to stop.

Donoso looked at him in confusion, "Dr. Selig they could pose to be a threat."

"I am not injured Andrea, as you can see. Now I believe they are not here to hurt me, so please, release Zeta."

Donoso hesitated, but did as she was told. She walked back over to Zee, and unbent the metal leg around Zee like it was a marshmallow. Ro dropped her jaw in astonishment as Zee got back up and regarded Donoso in confusion. Selig went to his desk and swiftly wrote something down on a piece of paper and clasped Zeta's hands as he gave it to him.

"It's not safe for you two to be here, meet me at this address in two hours. We'll talk there".

Zeta morphed back into his Zee persona before Selig with an expression that Selig can only recognize as gratitude. As they exited the compound, Zee had a smile on his face. They were finally one step closer to freedom.

- end of chapter three -


End file.
